A Side Tale: Mercenaries for Sale
by desoldeben
Summary: There is a new mercenary group 'Shadowguards' grows quickly. While some expect the group to crumble, others perceive it as a threat and wish the kill their leader. But, the leader of the mercenaries is powerful, of course. An army can't reach him, an assassin can't overpower him. So a team is formed. This is their story. Unrelated to the Mass Effect core story. Majority OCs


**Disclaimer: Anything found on games obviously isn't mind. But thanks if you think that. I'm very touched.**

**AN: I was kinda reluctant to do this story cuz I feel I do not know the Mass Effect world well enough to recall every aspect of it, but then I realized I would have to be a salarian or a drell to recall all the aspects. So I began anyway. Hope I don't screw up.**

_The Darkest Light_

_He was running away from the Eclipse mercenaries. His position was compromised and he was no super soldier. He couldn't take on that many soldiers. He was no Thane, after all._

_The bomb was ticking in his hands. He had to get to his objective. He ran down a corridor, turned a corner and began searching for the hatch that was in the blueprints he saw. He located it, hacked it open, and jumped in. Footsteps above. Eclipse mercenaries were running past. A breath of relief. He began heading to the lab where his objective was._

_He was directly under the lab, if his memory served. And his memory served very, very well. He hacked the hatch and pulled himself up. He was where he expected to be._

_'Hands where I can see them, pal,' came from behind him. He complied. He knew the voice. He turned and saw the woman he expected. Asteria T'lini. Asari. Adept. Human father. Very powerful, but more renowned for efficiency. 'I see you beat me to here, Lady Star.' That was the nickname she had in the industry._

_'A real shame, eh? Considering I'm not the one with the bomb.' She knew of his intention._

_'Yes, about the bomb. You may want to be aware of something. It's already armed.' Anything to throw her off was invaluable._

_'Don't feed me bullshit. You are not stupid. Nor am I, for that matter.' She did not seem sure of her words._

_'It was ticking ever since I got it. You can check if you want.' He shrugged, a gesture she had taught him. She waved her hand and muttered, 'slowly.'_

_He complied again, placing the device on the ground between them. Without taking an eye off him, she picked up the device. 'Turn around now.' He was about to comply once more when the device began beeping. Thirty second before detonation._

_Her eyes were off him for a second. The second he had needed. He twisted to the side, bringing up his sidearm and firing thrice. The asari fell and dropped the bomb. He did not bother to check if she was dead. He dashed for the bomb, picked it up, and activated tactical cloak. He sprinted to the mission objective. Twenty seconds before detonation._

_He recalled the blue print. The device he was to bomb should be around this corner. It was. So was an YMIR Mech. He overloaded the shield. He brought up his sniper and fired. The Mech identified his location and started firing. He hid behind the cover to his side. Ten seconds._

_He fired blind from his cover. The Mech fired some rockets. He sneaked a moment and withdrew immediately before bullets tore into him. Five seconds._

_He organized his thought and took a deep breath. Four seconds._

_He activated tactical cloak and burst out of his hiding place. Three seconds._

_He saw the target and drew back his arm, ready to throw the bomb. Two seconds._

_He tossed the bomb. The sensors on the Mech picked him. It began to fire. One second._

_The bomb reached the target. His armor warned him of shield failure. Time was up._

_The bomb exploded, ripping apart the target, ripping apart the Mech. He looked at the explosion. It was awe-inspiring. He could not avert his gaze, as if the view had possessed him._

_Suddenly, a bright light burst out from the explosion._

_That was the last image he saw._

_He could still hear. He just couldn't see. He heard air current from outside. The explosion had caused a hull breach. He heard engines. There was a ship just by the breach. He heard footsteps. He believed them to be Eclipse. 'Now's no time to be napping, you stupid reptile. Come on, come on!' He knew this voice. 'That you, Rhojav?'_

_'The one and only.' Another tug. He followed his comrade._

_'Why is it so dark? I can't see anything.'_

_'What's ya talking about? Bright as a sunset here.' He could hear the engine closely now. He fumbled slightly before somebody dragged him onboard. He could not see anything. He felt the ship moving._

_'I think I'm blind.' I muttered._

_'Blast it. You serious?' Rhojav yelled._

_I drew a breath. 'Yes.'_

Glion Delynes shook his memory away. There were happier memories but, for some reason, he had chosen to relieve this memory. He reentered his world. His world was still pitch black. It had always been ever since.

Currently, he was in a rehabilitation facility. While blindness alone did not make him need a facility to live in, he had made some enemies in his career and this facility was well-known for its security.

'You are awake, Mr Delynes.' That was Juelin Features, the caretaker of this facility. While a bit overly protective, she was definitely the person for her job.

'Yes, I am, Miss Features. Thank you for checking.' In the background, people were chatting. The facility was not deafening, but chatters never stopped. People were visiting their disabled families, friends and loved ones all the time. They always spoke of something, some light issues, others more grave. Their gossips informed him about the world outside often.

'Did you get Commander Shepard action figure?' That was Juans, a turian child who revered the human hero. He had been here ever since he fell off a balcony eight month ago. While there was no permanent damage, he had been in a bad shape when he first arrived.

'I told you, boy. Shepard died six months ago. Stop looking up to the human.' That was his father, a turian who did not have high opinion on humans. Even though what he said about the Savior of Citadel was true, it was also insensitive. Unsurprisingly, the kid began to cry.

'You are so brutal!' That was the wife. 'There, there, Juanny. We will get your action figure once you fully recover.' The kid was pacified.

Glion lost interest, and tuned into another conversation. 'Did you hear? The new mercenary group that got Eclipse ticked is actually kicking them in the sacks. A new group pushing down the Eclipse, well I'll never.' This was Harold, a human drug dealer in league with the Blue Suns. He was recovering here because of the security as well.

'Sure heard. Good stuff, I say. When I heard about this Shadowguards, I was skeptical, but damn they are getting bigger.' The flanging quality in the words told Glion the person was a turian. The voice showed his respect for this mercenary group "Shadowguards".

'Their leader is this human biotic called Terran, right?'

'Yup, their founder is a human, just like Blue Suns.'

'They can't possibly surpass the Blue Suns though, right?'

The turian laughed. 'Are you kidding me? The green gills surpassing Blue Suns? Eclipse is undisciplined so it's not surprising that they are going under, but Blue Suns are different from those idiots. Don't worry about it.'

'If you say so.' Harold sounded quite reassured.

Glion had been very intent on this gossip about the Shadowguards that he had not heard footsteps approaching. Suddenly, he sensed a presence behind him and turned. The person pulled him into a hug and whispered into his ear. 'How have you been, Delynes.' Glion felt his blood freeze as he recognized the voice.

'Asteria T'lini…' He could not believe his ears.

'You remembered me, sweetie. I'm very touched.' Glion took the fact that he was still alive as a favorable sign.

'Drells remember everything. Not my choice.' He was not going to show his fear.

'Still the same cocky bastard, aren't you, Delynes.'

'I try.' He wondered why the asari was here, if assassination was not her motive.

'Good thing you stayed the same, you little bastard. There's a mission, and I need you just the way you are.'

**AN: It's only the prologue, and I'm kinda short on time. Sorry. But I did not want to go too far in the prologue. I just wanted to show the main guy, the setting and his background. Thanks for reading!**

**So the time is about six month after Shepard got killing by the Collectors. It's basically a stand alone story which I hope to be disciplined enough to finish.**

**Update: I fixed some issues, touched it a bit. I am probably going to get a few chapters out. I'm kinda feeling rusty (since I haven't been touching mass effect universe in awhile). I should stuff the lores a bit.**

**desoldeben out**


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